Someone who Cares
by strawberryotaku
Summary: He was at that place. [Hinted SasuNaru, rated for language only, oneshot]


_Seems you're wanting me to stay  
But my dreams would surely waste away_

-Take me Under, Three Days Graceartist, Three Days Grace album

Disclaimer: Naruto and the two sentence quote from 'Take me Under' do not belong to me. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto-sensei and his friends, and Take me Under belongs to Three Days Grace and their friends. Not me.

Not a song fic, just a pretty quote for it. Not even a whole verse.

* * *

Naruto was at _that_ place. The place his team mate, his rival, his . . . friend, left Konoha for. A dull pang rang throughout his chest, he was here. Alone. With no ANBU, no Jounin, no Chuunin, no Genin. He was alone, just him and Kyuubi, if you wanted to count the bijuu.

He didn't expect to be greeted at the gates, but he was. He didn't expect to be lead straight to Sasuke. But he was.

It was almost as if that old Snake-guy and the Uchiha were planning his arrival, and had it set up by the very second.

"Naruto."

"Sasuke teme."

Sasuke's face faded, and he remembered. He really had changed, he really had. But at least he remembered him, the nicknames the two had passed back and forth, forgetting when it wasn't meant and was.

Their old game.

Their old forgotten game.

"When are you going to get some sense knocked into you, when are you going to come back to Konoha?"

"When _that man_ is dead."

"I know who Itachi is, teme. I've fought the bastard."

Sasuke had a genuine look of surprise in his eyes, but there was no change in his facial expression, "And you're still alive?"

"Yeah." Naruto replied, "Close calls, and help with me though." Yeah, when the jinchuuriki thought about it. He would be dead if he hadn't had help every time he faced off against Itachi. He didn't want to acknowledge the fact, but it was the truth, "The Akatsuki's after all of us. Y'know, us with the bijuu. Like Gaara, like me."

It was at their last encounter Naruto had explained fully to Sasuke about the Kyuubi, and what was Gaara's ichibi. It had been a very heated meeting, a fight. It had been during the attempted assassination of Orochimaru. Needless to say, it failed and only a handful of people made it out alive.

"Then why are you still with Konoha, where half the population is civilian and easily killed?" Sasuke was playing with Naruto's weakness, the protection of others he cared about. Everyone knew Naruto's dream. To be Hokage, to prove himself and to protect the village.

"Where else is there?"

There was no reply, Naruto didn't say anything. Some five minutes ago, Orochimaru must've left because he was no longer there, and neither had noticed his departure.

"Come on Sasuke, come back."

"Why don't you stay, you're the only one who knows me."

"Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei!"

Sasuke glared, "Do you think they cared? They didn't come with you, did they? It's just you, don't you think I know that?"

"I'm not staying. You know I have my own dreams to fulfill."

"You'd rather spend the rest of your life trying to prove yourself to a bunch of people who would never even meet your eye, than someone who really does care!"

Naruto's eyes widened slightly at the outburst, it wasn't very Sasuke-like. It was six years, that changed him. Not Orochimaru, not the Sound, not impatience from having to wait to become strong enough.

The blonde didn't reply.

"I didn't think so. You _can_ stay you know, you're not weak, we don't bite." Sasuke said, just loud enough for Naruto to hear, after a moment.

"Sasuke, I can't stay here! I promised Tsunade-sama I would return, I promised Sakura-chan, and Kakashi-sensei and everyone else!"

"They made you promise, didn't they? It wasn't one of those 'I promise I'll come back with him's wasn't it? It was them making you promise you would go back! They know you Naruto, they've been around you long enough! But the question is-why would you go back? They never paid any attention to you until you made them!"

"**Shut Up!** You didn't either, Sasuke! I had to earn your attention to, didn't I!"

The raven haired boy, sitting on his throne, put his elbow on the armrest and sighed, running his hand through his hair.

"You're right, aren't you? But who was it that grew closest to you? It wasn't Kakashi, or Sakura, or Kiba, or Gaara. It was me."

"Shut up, Sasuke! You bastard! You traitorous bastard! You left Konoha, you left Team Kakashi, you left me!" Naruto yelled, "And you can't go back and change that! You can't change anything that's happened in the past!"

Sasuke paused, "Traitor, huh? That's me. What do you think would happen to me if I go back to Konoha? What do you think would happen? No one is going to trust me, not Tsunade not Kakashi, and not even Sakura! It would be you, and it would only be you!"

"And if I stayed here! What would become of me! What would I do with my life, besides hang around and train for nothing!"

"I don't know! You could go after Akatsuki, you could become an Akatsuki! You're not Sakura or Ino, or even Neji or Lee! You're stronger now than they'll ever be, and you're getting stronger, still!"

"How would you know, huh? We haven't seen each other in years!"

"You leave Konoha, and I leave Otogakure! There are spies! I get information, I hear rumors! I know things, Naruto, I know things!"

"How long have you known I was coming?"

"Four or Five Days."

"How come you never knew I've fought Itachi?"

"Not many people can gather information from the Akatsuki and live, and no one's willing to try and become one of them. They're to tightly knit."

There was a long silence, a very long silence, and neither would look at the other.

"If I stayed . . . I wouldn't be happy, Sasuke."

"But we would be together, wouldn't we?"

"How come it's always been me . . . trying to get you, and never the other way around?"

"Because, I wasn't always sure . . ."

"Sure about what! Spit it out!"

"If you really did care."

"Well you know what, I do. And I'm not leaving until you come back to Konoha! I won't let you rot your whole life away because of that Snake guy!" Naruto yelled, still rushing in head first, like always.

"Then you won't be leaving any time soon. I'm not going back to Konoha, I'm not going to a place where no one trusts me."

"Fine then." Naruto said quietly, "I'll stay then, but as soon as you kill that bastard we're leaving."

Sasuke blinked, once again surprise was only conveyed in his eyes, "But . . ."

"Hokage can wait, it really can. I'll become Hokage, when I go back, even if it's just for a little while, it's something I have to do."

However, the look in his eyes said otherwise, and so did his actions. The hitai-ate he wore across his forehead fell, clanging to the ground. There was no scratch drawn across the leaf symbol, merely dropped.

Merely put away for some other time, some other where.


End file.
